Saint Louis Today
Advocates can begin collecting signatures for two proposed Missouri ballot measures that would legalize marijuana. The secretary of state’s office said Monday the initiative petitions have been approved for circulation to get them on the 2012 ballot.
Wrestling with your state income tax return? Missouri legislators are weighing a plan that would do away with that chore. But before you celebrate, be aware that it’s not a tax cut. While state individual and corporate income taxes would be eliminated, the lost revenue would be replaced with a higher sales tax on everything you buy. And that means everything — groceries, rent, new homes, doctor visits, child care, prescription drugs, private K-12 schooling and a host of other items not currently taxed.
A bid to put Paul McKee’s NorthSide redevelopment plan on the February ballot has come up short. Thursday was the deadline for signatures on a referendum challenging an agreement signed last month by St.Louis Mayor Francis Slay to give McKee the right to move forward with his $8.1 billion plan, and nearly $400 million in tax-backed financing.
Gustavo Rendon is angry that City Hall is helping developer Paul McKee’s plan to rebuild 2 square miles of north St. Louis, and scared that he will lose his home. He set out Sunday to put leaflets on windshields in his neighborhood, urging his neighbors to fight the project. And then he was arrested. Two police officers handcuffed Rendon in front of his children and put him in jail for about nine hours on suspicion of “affixing an advertisement on public or private property.”
Planned Parenthood sued the state Wednesday to object to the language in two proposed anti-abortion, anti-stem-cell funding ballot initiatives. The lawsuits, filed in Cole County Circuit Court, seek to stop the approval of language for a ballot initiative that would allow the Legislature to limit funding to any organization that supported abortion or certain types of controversial stem cell research and another proposal that would create a new definition of when life begins, in effect outlawing abortion and likely even certain forms of birth control.
It’s entirely too early to be able to determine how many ballot initiatives Missouri voters will see on the November 2010 ballot, but they will have plenty of opportunity to sign petitions at the grocery store between now and May. Two more ballot initiatives were approved for circulation by the Missouri Secretary of State’s office this week, both connected to the issue of abortion. There are currently 19 such ballot petitions approved for circulation, though few of those are expected to get the number of signatures necessary to actually be put before voters.
The American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Heart Association are calling on St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley to reject a smoking ordinance approved Tuesday by the County Council and to instead ask the council to start over on a new one. The council ordinance that was approved 4-3 would send the proposal to voters. It could go on the ballot Nov. 3. In addition to its plea to veto the ordinance, the American Cancer Society feels so strongly that the proposal is flawed that it is paying for a radio commercial against the bill.
The St. Louis County Council tonight may take a critical vote on placing a ban on smoking in indoor public places before voters on Nov. 3. Council members would consider tentatively approving the measure through a second reading of the smoking bill.
Stymied by an unwilling Missouri Senate, opponents of the current method of choosing many judges in the state will head to the ballot and ask voters for help. This morning on a conference call, James Harris, director of the Better Courts for Missouri group, announced that his group would be filing an initiative petition to get rid of the Missouri Plan and replace it with the federal model for choosing judges. “It has worked well for the United States for more than 200 years and we think it will work well for Missouri,” said Harris.
For a second time, city voters could decide whether to ban smoking in indoor public places. Promoters of an initiative announced Monday they are close to obtaining enough signatures to put the ban on the ballot. If their petitions are valid, they hope for an election in November, but a combination of city charter and state election deadlines could put off the election until February.